For Those Who Truly Do Love The Newspaper Business Then Read On

Philip M. Stone September 2, 2008

Jay Mariotti, a 17-year Chicago Sun-Times sports columnist, did a nasty a couple of weeks back, quitting his job upon his return from Beijing, and then going on radio and TV to damn newspapers declaring that “the print product is dead”. So it seemed only right that a fellow columnist from the same newspaper should take Mariotti down a peg or two and that’s what Roger Ebert, its star movie review columnist, did in an open letter.

Ebert’s words deserve wide dissemination to all those who still believe in print. After decrying the manner in which Mariotti resigned, Ebert turned to the more important subject of why people still want newspapers:

Newspapers are not dead, Jay, although you predicted the death of the
Sun-Times and the Tribune. Neither paper will die any time soon. Job-
hunting tip: It is imprudent to go on TV and predict the collapse of a
newspaper you might hope would hire you. Times are hard in the
newspaper business, and for the economy as a whole. Did you only sign
on for the luxury cruise? There's an old saying that you might have
come across once or twice on the sports beat: "When the going gets
tough, the tough get going."

Newspapers are not dead, Jay, because there are still readers who want
the whole story, not a sound bite. If you only work on television,
viewers may get a little weary of you shouting at them. You were a
great shouter in print, that's for sure, stomping your feet when
owners, coaches, players and fans didn't agree with you. It was an
entertaining show. Good luck getting one of your 1,000-word rants on
the air.

The rest of us are still at work, still putting out the best paper we can. We believe in our profession, and in the future…. You have left us, Jay, at a time when the newspaper is once again in the hands of people who love newspapers and love producing them. You managed to stay here through the dark days of the thieves Conrad Black and David Radler. The paper lost millions. Incredibly, we are still
paying Black's legal fees.

I started here when Marshall Field and Jim Hoge were running the
paper. I stayed through the Rupert Murdoch regime. I was asked, "How
can you work for a Murdoch paper?" My reply was: "It's not his paper.
It's my paper. He only owns it." That's the way I've always felt about
the Sun-Times, and I still do.

After his “I quit” email to Sun-Times management, Mariotti went on radio and television decrying print newspapers and saying that the future was online, and only online. He told a Chicago radio station, “Our fathers may read a newspaper over coffee, but I don't know anyone under 40 who is picking up a newspaper and reading it." He continued, “The print product is dead. It all has to be fed into the internet product now."

Ebert’s words hopefully put Mariotti out where he belongs – in the vast wasteland.

Ebert is an American newspaper icon who has written movie reviews for 41 years for the Sun Times. His column is currently syndicated to more than 200 newspapers which is good news and bad news. Good that so many people get to read them but bad in that so many newspapers have been firing their own local movie reviewers – a sign of the times.

in the 1970’s when competition was truly fierce between the two Chicago newspapers  Ebert and Chicago Tribune movie reviewer Gene Siskel teamed up to co-host a movie review program “Sneak Previews” on the local public television station. Eventually the show was broadcast nationwide and became such a success that the duo eventually decided to go commercial, leaving Sneak Previews – it was never the same afterwards – and starting their own Siskel & Ebert at the Movies, a 30-minute movie review show that became must watching for 23 years for Americans deciding what movie to go see each week. The two coined and trademarked the expression “Two Thumbs Up” and movie producers knew if they got “two thumbs up” that financially their movie was going to have great box office.

Siskel died tragically in 1999 from brain tumor surgery complications. Ebert continued with fellow Sun Times movie reviewer Richard Roeper, but then in mid 2006 Ebert lost his voice from a medical ailment, but his written reviews continue. But it was an end of an era and this past July the producer of their program, Disney, said it was “going in another direction” and the program ended.   

But In what is a gem of a movie review video goldmine about 1,000 of the “At The Movies” programs have been digitized, and the atthemovies web site now has about 5,000 video reviews. Anyone really wanting to know whether it’s a good use of a couple of hours to watch, say Sahara, or Gothika coming up on TV could do a lot worse than spend five minutes watching the appropriate  Ebert-Siskel-Roeper review.

Back to Ebert’s open letter. One line that really stood out is, “Newspapers are not dead, Jay, because there are still readers who want the whole story”. That is a point that print newspapers will forget at their peril.

It’s obvious in this day and age that newspapers have to provide an experience that no other information media can so readily accomplish.  As Ebert pointed out, that 1,000 word sports column condemning the local sports just doesn’t have the same power on TV or the Internet.  And as long as there are writers like Ebert who “love” their profession and there are readers who “love” their newspapers, then print will continue to do just fine.